Preps Notebook | Kickoff events have Hawaiian flavor

Punahou School of Honolulu is returning to the Emerald City Kickoff Classic and Volleyball Invitational this fall.

The Buff 'n Blue, which beat Eastlake of Sammamish in the featured football game in 2006, will play Central Kitsap of Silverdale at 8 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 6 at Qwest Field.

The sixth Kickoff Classic will also feature a 5:30 p.m. showdown between playoff regulars Kennedy of Burien and Kentwood of Covington. In the other games, Fife will play Cascade Christian of Puyallup at 9:30 a.m., Eastside Catholic faces Eisenhower of Yakima at noon, and Puyallup will face Bellarmine Prep of Tacoma at 3 p.m.

Kennedy and Bellarmine Prep will make their second appearances in the Kickoff Classic — the first repeat participants in the event.

Punahou won the inaugural Emerald City Volleyball Invitational in 2006.

This year's tournament on Sept. 5 at Eastlake has been whittled from eight teams to four. Punahou will be joined by Eastlake, Bellarmine Prep and Central Kitsap.

Star Track event returning to Tacoma

Star Track, the Class 3A and 4A state track-and-field championships, will return to Tacoma next spring — with a few twists. It will be held in conjunction with the 2A state meet.

One of the meets will be Thursday and Friday, while the other two run Friday and Saturday.

The event will be at Mount Tahoma High School rather than Lincoln Bowl, its longtime home before Star Track moved to Pasco in 2003.

State track meets for smaller school classifications will be at Eastern Washington University in Cheney.

Beach's Moikobu

signs with Montana

Rainier Beach senior Nyandigisi Moikobu has signed a men's basketball letter of intent with Montana. Moikobu, a transfer from Chief Sealth, averaged 11 points and 10 rebounds last season for the Class 3A state champion Vikings.

"Digs is a 6-6 player who is fundamentally sound, has good defensive toughness [and] also has the ability to score the ball," Grizzlies third-year coach Wayne Tinkle said in a release.

Moikobu, an All-Metro League second-team selection, joins a recruiting class that includes Washington prep stars Shawn Stockton from Ferris of Spokane and Gig Harbor's Mathias Ward, who both signed in November.

Four seniors from Rainier Beach's 2008 graduating class have signed with Division I programs — Reggie Moore and Mike Ladd (both Fresno State) and Ababe Dimisse (Eastern Washington).

Freelancer Joshua Mayers

contributed to this report.